HENRY MEMORIAL CAPE

First Landing Cross. The first settler berthing to establish the site of the first permanent English settlement in America was held in Cape Henry. After a difficult crossing across the Atlantic, three vessels from the Virginia Company of London's (Discovery, Susan Constant, and the Godspeed) arrived on April 25, 1607, near a language of wooded land and notched at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. The 144 passengers found the land firm after four and a half months at sea. They stayed just long enough to name the place after one of King Jacques's sons, raise a wooden cross, and thank God for their arrival in safety, and then they traced on their vessels to sail inside the land, seeking a more sheltered place. They founded Jamestown, a few weeks later (May 14, 1607), naming Captain John Smith as head of the new colony. The granite cross that stands here recalls the wooden cross set up in April 1607. It was built in 1935 by the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists.

Statue of Admiral Joseph Paul de Grasse (1722-1788). A little further, a statue of the French Admiral recalls, for his part, that the waters unfolding in front of Cape Henry were the theatre of the Battle of Chesapeake Bay (or battle of caps in Virginia) on September 5, 1781. In total, they were 24 vessels on the French side compared to 19 on the English side that fought on that day in a canonnade that lasted only a few hours. The confrontation made just over 340 killed or injured and ended with the collapse of English ships. The French success in this battle was crucial in the final victory of the American War of Independence. On the one hand, she prevented the Royal Navy from rescuing the forces of the English General Charles Cornwallis, in bad standing in Yorktown, and also allowed the sending of reinforcements and provisions from Newport and the French Antilles to the United States and French armed Forces.

Cape Henry Lighthouses. Two lighthouses stand side by side at Cape Henry's point. The first lighthouse was built in 1792. Acquired in 1930 by APVA Preservation Virginia, it is open to the public and offers a beautiful view over the bay. The second dates from 1881 and is maintained by the staff of the United States military base in Fort Story. It can also be visited (to be confirmed on the spot following the level of vigilance of the military authorities).